Jacksonville Jaguars WR Justin Blackmon ready to return to action after DUI clearance – NFL News
Jacksonville Jaguars’ troubled rookie wide receiver Justin Blackmon said he is ready to return to full action from training camp of the team this week after luckily escaping the possibility of a jail term on the driving under the influence (DUI) charge.
Justin offered these remarks after the court accepted his bargain plea to guilty to the DUI charge and handed him the deferred sentence of one year. The player will have to meet certain conditions, such as 50 hours of community work, to avoid the punishment.
He was represented by his lawyer Cheryl Ramsey in the Payne County District Court, Oklahoma, after he accepted the prosecution’s bargain deal to change his plea from not guilty to guilty to the DUI charge.
The WR, who was not present in the court, said he is happy over the arrangement and is trying to get over what had happened. He was referring to his arrest on June 03 by the police under the DUI. He was pulled over by the officers for over-speeding. He was
asked to take the on-spot alcohol test and the officers allegedly found three times over the local prescribed limit of alcohol in his body
Justin said:
"I'm done. Right now, I'm done with all that. I can't promise you 10 years down the road that I'm going to be done. I just know that as of right now and what I can speak of. I'm looking forward to getting ready to play football and putting this in the past."
Earlier, Blackmon’s lawyer filed the changed plea in the court. She told the court about the changed attitude of her client. She said:
“He is mortified by this. He has apologized to the NFL commissioner. He apologized to the Jacksonville Jaguars. It will not happen again."
Special Judge Michael Stano accepted the plea and gave the player a deferred sentence, meaning he will have to fulfil some other conditions to facilitate waiver of the sentence.
In addition to the 50-hour community work, Blackmon has to pay $500 in fine, service the court expense bill, pay another $100 to a drug abuse treatment fund and honour some other commitments by January 24 next year.
Now it also depends on his behaviour over the period of time. Any violation of these conditions is most likely to land him in the jail. These payments are in addition to $1000 he paid in bond to secure his release on the day of his arrest.
This is second time that the player has landed himself into police custody under the DUI charge. Earlier incident, however, was during his college league career in 2010.
It is pertinent to note here that the player seems to have already come to terms with the National Football League (NFL) authorities and is on the prospects of avoiding the disciplinary action.
He is all cleared by his team as well. So with signing of a contract now, Justin should be back on the pro career track, progress of which is dependent to his conduct off-field and on-field performance.
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